{"id":3952,"date":"2012-04-26T18:49:41","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T01:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marialiberati.com\/?p=3952"},"modified":"2012-04-26T18:49:41","modified_gmt":"2012-04-27T01:49:41","slug":"ricotta-cheese-the-creamiest-treat-italian-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/2012\/04\/26\/ricotta-cheese-the-creamiest-treat-italian-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Spaghetti Infuocati (Spaghetti on Fire) &#124; Ricotta Recipes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wlWriterHeaderFooter\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/buzz\/api\/button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.almagourmet.com\/store\/images\/ricotta3.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\nGuest Post by Madigan Naylor<br \/>\ncopyright 2012 Art of Living,PrimaMedia,Inc\/Maria Liberati<br \/>\nMy friend recently returned from a semester studying in Italy. When we were catching up, I asked her what food she enjoyed most while in Italy, and she said the cheese. \u201cBut not sweets or gelato?\u201d I asked. She replied, \u201cWithout a doubt, the cheeses.\u201d She continued to list at least a dozen cheeses she had tried from her time abroad. One that she mentioned was ricotta cheese. She said this one was probably the best because it could be used in dessert as well as dishes with pasta or vegetables and many more. She declared she would cook with it more often back here at home. I know that I\u2019ve had it before, but I don\u2019t exactly remember it being one of my favorites, in fact I hardly ever use it when I cook my everyday food. This inspired me to find out a little more about it and try to incorporate this cheese that my friend swore by!<br \/>\nRicotta is not a cheese but a creamy curd. The curd is literally cooked twice hence the name &#8220;ricotta,&#8221; re-cooked. The best ricotta is made with sheep&#8217;s milk. It is basically milk whey left over from the production of cheese! It sounds kind of gross, but it is absolutely delicious! Who knew left overs would be so delicious in so many different dishes! I remember my mother used to sprinkle some sugar on top of some ricotta cheese and eat it from a tub! With only a spoon! It tasted so sweet and fluffy though, not savory at all. It\u2019s strange though, because I usually pair ricotta cheese with pasta dishes like lasagna or giant pasta shells. It wasn\u2019t until a few years ago that I went to an Italian restaurant in England that I was served probably the best Italian dessert I\u2019ve had ever since I can remember. They were simple ricotta cheese stuffed cannoli with smooth, creamy dark chocolate drizzled over the top. Perfection. The shell was so light and flaky that it nearly melted in my mouth, making the cheese even fluffier and softer. I can\u2019t wait to try some new recipes with ricotta cheese in it and see what all of the hype is about!<br \/>\nHere\u2019s a recipe from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marialiberati.com\">The Basic Art of Pasta<\/a>:<br \/>\n<strong>Spaghetti Infuocati (Spaghetti on Fire)<\/strong><br \/>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-xHGMLeGyd4o\/TWa4Cv4jyvI\/AAAAAAAABTY\/ear3vZU1cxg\/s1600\/pasta%2Balla%2Bricotta.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><br \/>\n<strong>(excerpted from The Basic Art of Pasta by Maria Liberati)<\/strong><br \/>\n1 lb of spaghetti<br \/>\n8 ounces of ricotta (preferably fresh )<br \/>\n1 \u00bd tblsps of butter melted<br \/>\n\u00bc tsp of finely crushed pepper flakes<br \/>\nSalt to taste<br \/>\nCook pasta till al dente. But while pasta is cooking- place in a bowl the ricotta. Mix with a fork till it is creamy. Then sprinkle on the red pepper flakes and the melted butter.<br \/>\nWhen pasta is cooked al dente, drain. Place the pasta in the bowl with the ricotta mix and toss. Serve immediately.<br \/>\n<a class=\"thickbox\" href=\"www.marialiberati.com\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"the basic art of pasta (2)\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.marialiberati.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/the-basic-art-of-pasta-2.jpg?resize=164%2C244&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"the basic art of pasta (2)\" width=\"164\" height=\"244\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>April 28th and 29th<\/strong>-Hope to see you at the <strong>Great Grapes Festival<\/strong> in Reston Virginia this weekend for my book signings and cooking demos!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guest Post by Madigan Naylor copyright 2012 Art of Living,PrimaMedia,Inc\/Maria Liberati My friend recently returned from a semester studying in Italy. When we were catching up, I asked her what&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,947,34,45,11],"tags":[1105,975,1537,1630,101,1689,1690],"class_list":["post-3952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-caro-diariodear-diary","category-country-house-living","category-italy","category-pasta-recipes-2","category-recipes","tag-award-winning-author-maria-liberati","tag-celebrity-chef-maria-liberati","tag-gourmand-world-award-winning-cookbook-author-maria-liberati","tag-italian-chef","tag-italian-cooking","tag-italian-recipe","tag-ricottta-cheese"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}